Deuteronomy 30:9-14. True Prosperity
Theology?? 14/7/13
{9) Then the LORD your God will make you most
prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the
young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight
in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, {10} if
you obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written
in this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and
with all your soul. {11} Now what I am commanding you today is not too
difficult for you or beyond your reach. {12} It is not up in heaven, so that
you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to
us so we may obey it?" {13} Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to
ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may
obey it?" {14} No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in
your heart so you may obey it.
We today in our society and in
our Christian circles hear much about how to become prosperous. Health, wealth and happiness thinking is rampant. In
fact it would seem that this is what the core of life is all about: everything
else comes a distant last. Everything else, including our religion, has to fit
into this thinking.
Now if you think that I am
somewhat exaggerating this, look around you and the society we live in; listen
to what is even being said in some of our churches; and look into your own
hearts and lives. Look and ponder! Is not health, wealth and happiness the goal
of much of what is going on? Do we not all long for and believe that this is
necessary for life? Think about it.
But already, I can sense the
unease that this question poses in our hearts and minds. Already we are seeking
after some justification for what is inherent in our lives. Surely these things
are important? Surely, God wants us to be blessed in this way? Surely we have
to work at these things? Surely ....... Even here in this reading God clearly
indicates that he wants to make us prosperous:
He wants to bless us: He wants us to be healthy, wealthy and happy? Surely...?
Let us listen again; Then the LORD your God will make you most
prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the
young of your livestock and the crops of your land. The LORD will again delight
in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your fathers, if you
obey the LORD your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in
this Book of the Law and turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with
all your soul.
So yes God here does talk about
prosperity and giving us many blessings. But is that what he says is the core
and the basis of life? Is that primarily what Life is all about? Is, us having
everything in earthly terms, what makes for the essence of life? Surely not?
Instead he makes it quite clear
that it is He who is all important and our obedience and keeping of his Word
which is important. So the focus and centre of what life is all about, is what
is brought into sharp focus for us today. Here in this reading as well as in
our Gospel reading from Luke, chapter 10;25-37., that same point is made. It is
not what I do and think that is important, but God and his Word and our
adherence to it that is important. We need to recognise that the blessings of
life are just that, his blessings to those who look to him and trust him. The
ultimate blessing is that we are connected to and live in accord with him. Not
ourselves and our wants and desires.
In this reading and the verses
preceding it, God himself makes quite clear the connection between obedience
and his blessings. We were created to live with God who is creator and Lord and
in that relationship we will be richly blessed. However because we have chosen
to ignore God and his Word and instead choose to do that which we want and to
follow the desires of our sinful heart, then we bring poverty and hardship on
ourselves.
We want the blessings; health,
wealth and happiness, but not the God who makes it possible. We worship the
creation and not the creator: making an idol of the blessings, whilst rejecting
and keeping the true God at an arms distance. Then we wonder why health, wealth
and happiness becomes a curse instead of a blessing: Why our striving after these
things brings the opposite to what we want. Without the Lord they are nothing
and they are fruitless.
Even worse than that is the fact that we are
clearly told that if we choose to abandon the covenant that he has made with
us; that he will be our God and we his people, and that we are to look to him,
trust him, and follow his Word. If we abandon that and go our own way we will
bring destruction on ourselves. God’s anger will burn against us. And as we
look back through history we see this occurrence again and again. To be sure,
we do see great patience on his part, but we see also when he says enough is
enough.
But, it is there also that he
says, if we turn from our wicked ways and seek after the Lord and again desire
to be obedient to his Word, then he will again bless us richly. When he become
truly our Lord and the centre of our lives: when we turn to the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul:
as we obey the
LORD our God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of
the Law, then he will make us
prosperous again.
So it is no longer ‘I and the ‘I
wants’ that drives us and is the focus of life, but God and what he wants. We
don’t even think of striving after ‘health, wealth, and happiness,’ for we have
something far more important to think of. We want to ‘love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with
all our strength and with all our mind; and, Love our neighbour as ourself.’
Here we need to remember what God
goes on to say here. Now what I am commanding you today is not too
difficult for you or beyond your reach.
It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend
into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it
beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it
and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you;
it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.
Yes, we know, that God is for
real, and we know what he wants us to do. The problem is so often just want to
do our own thing. We want what we want. That is why we need to continually
challenge ourselves and one another, to recognise that we are sinful and that
we need to turn back to God and take him seriously. That is why we need to regularly
gather together here in his house, so that we can be continually reminded of
the things that are important to us. That is why we have a strong focus on
Jesus Christ and the cross.
For it is there in the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ that we know that we have a Lord and Saviour who
loves us, forgives us, and has a better way for us to live. There we know that
we have eternal life with God in heaven. So now we no longer need to have an
abundance of ‘health, wealth and happiness.’ For we know that our gracious God
will give us what is good for us and for our witness to the people around us.
Most importantly he gives us that
which helps us to continually look to him, trust him, and live in accord with
his Word. Sometimes He even takes away some of that ‘health, wealth and
happiness’ in order to help us or others to turn back to him. So always he
gives to us what helps to focus us on the cross and our relationship with him.
That being the case we can always
be thankful and content for he is blessing us, either through plenty or little.
Always we can know that the fullness of God is with us here, just as it was for
his Son Jesus as he walked this earth: even as he approaches Jerusalem and the
cross. But above all we know that we will share in his glory and plenty in
eternity. So to him be all glory and honour, now and always. AMEN
Pastor Roger
Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish
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